A large clear-topped coffee table, held up by a life-sized ceramic baseball player sliding into a base, greets you as you enter the spacious living room.

"I had no idea that Al had put it in there, and when I walked into the room I gave a start as I thought that there was a strange man in there laying on the floor," Basha Schlazer said.

Every room in the house is decorated with sports keepsakes. There are autographed jerseys, baseballs, bats and football. He even has a prized pair of boxing gloves signed by Muhammad Ali. The collection includes countless autographed photos, many with Schlazer and celebrities of every sport.

Also displayed are tokens of remembrance of great performances by Curly Neal of the Harlem Globetrotters, Olympic softball champion Dot Richardson, former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino and ex-Dolphins coach Dan Shula, among others.

Several brilliantly colored works of art by LeRoy Neiman grace the walls.

"We have a lot of stuff in storage, as we don't have any more room in the house," Al Schlazer said.

Born in Brooklyn, he was 18 when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1956. He moved to Miami about the same time and attended the University of Miami, where he earned a bachelor's degree in education.

After college, Schlazer taught elementary school, was a baseball coach, pitching coach, tennis instructor and finally became athletic director at Miami-Dade Community College.

In 1974, Schlazer received his master of arts degree from the University of Northern Colorado and a doctor of philosophy from Columbia Pacific University in 1983.

As associate dean-director of athletics at the Wolfson Campus of Miami-Dade Community College, Schlazer led a program that produced national championships and All-Americans. In 1997, Schlazer was inducted into the Florida Community College Athletic Association Hall of Fame.

After his retirement from Miami-Dade Community College, Schlazer's love for sports and baseball took him to his current position as baseball consultant and events director at Disney's Wide World of Sports.

"Age is only as old as you feel. I still feel like a big kid," said Schlazer, 62. "We do not stop working because we are old, and we grow old because we stop working."

Schlazer said Disney is a different environment than he encountered during his 37 years in education.

"Disney is a business environment. The concern is how many people it will draw, and how many tickets it will sell. I truly love my job there, especially working with the younger people who call me `Doctor Al,' `Cool Daddy' and `Papa,' " Schlazer said.

As much as Schlazer loves his sports memorabilia collection, autographed photos of Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Michael Jordan pale to a little Miami Heat teddy bear that seems the closest to his heart.

"It belonged to a little 12-year-old boy named Zack who was dying, and we became close friends,'' Schlazer said. "I met him in New York and took him all over Disney. He died a couple of months later. The bear was his and he wanted me to have it. I will always cherish it.''